Sunday, October 07, 2018

Drones are fascinating objects and most often, we associate it with the military, but now it has become a trend with growing commercial application and a wide acceptance by consumers, thus, gaining growing popularity. Spearheading this revolution is Sonal Baid, an aerospace engineer from Indore who is the first Indian on Women to Watch in Unmanned Aircraft System’s (UAS) 2018 list for making a meaningful contribution to the drone industry through her startup Kittyhawk where she leads the product management team.

The 28-year-old, for whom it has been just a year since she ventured in the drone industry, says, “Kittyhawk makes it easier and safer to run a corporate drone programme. It is designed for commercial drone operations, both large and small. It unifies the mission, the aircraft, and the data to empower companies to manage in-house commercial drone operations. From one singular platform, enterprises can manage the complexity of operators, aircraft, airspace, data analytics, insights and compliance to maximise safety and ROI.”

The curiosity for flying machines traces its way back to her childhood. “I remember going to Indore airport with my dad every Sunday, just to watch airplanes take off and land. I have always been excited about machines, especially flying machines,” shares Baid, who worked in space for four years before venturing into the world of drones. “I see UAS as an industry beyond Aerospace. In the last decade drones have gone from curiosity to an everyday tool. The new commercial UAVs are being used for recreation, businesses, and anything else you can think of,” she adds.
07/10/18 Angela Paljor/Asian Age